Below are 20 journal entries, after skipping by the 20 most recent ones recorded in Steve's LiveJournal:

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Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
11:07 pm	Blart Radio for June 24, 2009 Click here to download. On the first episode of the summer: We catch you up on where we've been for the last few weeks. Love Land, China's up and coming adult theme park, was demolished just two days after we covered the story. Could the Chinese government be listening? Find out why a listener is laughing at us, and nothing, at the same time. Dream Theater's latest album, "Dark Clouds & Silver Linings," was released yesterday. Death metal then meets your shower (or tries to). We briefly cover the latest in talking telephone news, including a brief plug for an IPhone 3GS demo that Brandon H broadcast earlier this afternoon. It's hot all over the U.S. How can strawberries be classified as evil villains? Our favorite brown dog has been sick, but is thankfully doing much better today. The original, and only good, musicians from Evanescence are back as We Are The Fallen, and they are recording an album. We play a single from the group's website. Jerry Clower helps us commemorate Monday's tragic metro crash in Washington, D.C. Our treadmill sounds like it's dying. To prove a point, I briefly run on it to demonstrate the clacking, clonking noise that greets anyone who dares to use it. John and I briefly discuss some of our old time radio favorites and recommend a few series to check out. We then take a trip back in time to one of the D.C. metro rides I recorded when I lived in our nation's capitol. Despite their social oddities, idiot savants have some truly remarkable abilities. One of our listeners consumed 34 8-OZ cups of coffee today. That's 272 ounces, or just over 2 gallons. What ever happened to Lonely Beer? Finally, Mr. Brown devours some fortune cookies on the air. That does it for this episode. We will be back on the air at our usual time this Saturday night. See you then. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
1:36 pm	Window-Eyes 7.1 Beta 1 is out It's live, and you can click here to get it. All kinds of enhancements, including 64-bit support, Windows 7 support, scripting additions, and lots of new braille goodies are just a download away. Oh, and many bug fixes, too. Have fun. (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 21st, 2009
4:49 pm	Vacation, Employment, and Tweeting It seems that other than my weekly radio show summaries, the only time I write in this blog is when I'm about to travel, in the midst of being on the road, or when I get home from vacationing. To be fair, these are usually the only times when anything noteworthy occurs. And who am I to break with tradition? Yes; once more, I'm about to head north for a couple weeks to escape the Texas heat. And to celebrate, I'm going to cover a few brief topics I've investigated for the last few months. Employment. Remember that word? Lots of folks, including yours truly, haven't had it for quite some time since the massive layoffs began last Fall. Frankly, it's a bummer, and things are only going to get worse before they get better. The good news is that there are still a few options out there-- even for persons with disabilities. Desperation has led me to several recruitment agencies and online job sites. The first, Bender Consulting Services, seeks to assist the technically-oriented find work. I can speak from personal experience that these guys are the real deal and believe whole-heartedly in what they're doing. I strongly urge any unemployed geek types get in touch with Bender; you may get a break. The next place I investigated looked promising. The goal of NTI is to help disabled folk gain employment as work-at-home customer service agents for various companies around the United States. One caveot they try to hide, however, is that they don't have any interest in helping blind job seekers. They claim that the software that the customer service agents use isn't the least bit compatible with screen readers. I frankly have no idea if this is true or not. My attempts to follow up with the company on what constitutes accessibility have gone completely ignored. Frankly, a maximum of $9 an hour isn't worth my time fighting over. However, if you aren't blind but have some other type of disability, then these folks may be able to help you. The next place I've been poking around is Flex Jobs. They specialize in sifting through telecommuting work all over America and make it very easy to build resumes, profiles, and apply for these jobs. I haven't heard back from the various companies to which I applied, but the job site itself isn't to blame for that. A subscription is required, but I can assure any readers interested in remote work that it will be money well spent. Finally, I came across Cyber Coders about a week ago. This site is free to use, and like Flex Jobs, offers a lot of positions around the country and eases the resume submission and application process. Definitely give this place a look if you're technically minded. Aside from job hunting, I've also been sucked into the land of Twitter. I honestly didn't see the point of it last year, but I finally understand its appeal and like having it around. I won't link to my profile here, but it should be easy enough to figure out. And if you can't, drop me a line, and I'll let you know whom to follow. One thing I like about these social networking sites is the wide array of tools with which I can access them. On the desktop side, I've linked my LJ Talk/Jabber ID to Tweet.IM. Twitter shows up as a contact in my message list, and with the flexibility I enjoy with Miranda IM, I can keep in touch with virtually everyone out there inside one program. On the mobile side, I've become a real fan of Twinkini. This small, no-nonsense Twitter client is amazingly well designed and makes tweeting a real treat, or should I say tweet? Tracking my timeline is much easier than slogging through the mobile Twitter site in Pocket IE, and I don't have to send text messages to update my status anymore. Plus, the client can do some other cool things like geocaching if you want to broadcast your GPS position to the rest of planet Earth. It also stays alert in the background and chirps at you when new tweets arrive. And for the MobileSpeak Pocket users out there, this puppy is accessible right out of the box. That can't be said for the majority of Windows Mobile apps out there, so my hat's off to the program's developers for doing it right. There are also some cool things coming in the land of Windows assistive tech, and I should be able to talk about them soon. In the mean time, the above should keep you busy until I post again. I will endeavor to update the blog more often, but only time will tell if I manage to do so with any regular frequency. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, May 17th, 2009
5:37 pm	Blart Radio for May 16, 2009 Click here to download. Highlights from this week's episode include: I turned some clips of my nephew trying to talk to Mr. Microphone into an ID for the show. One listener thought he was saying Michael Phelps instead. The long lost quarter has been found. Our Canadian neighbors like to flavor barbecue and spaghetti sauces with beer. Two listeners describe the concoction. Let's all go huggin and chalkin in the guise of crazed 1947 dancers. We take Ed out of his drawer so he can read to us about Love Land, China's newest theme park. We play some wind-laden recordings from a Rivers West gig this past Wednesday in front of the Denton County court house. Despite my substancial sunburn from that day, I can still gloat that there are members of my family who burn more quickly, and are consequently paler, than me. I mess around with a ringtone I made earlier this week in Sound Forge. The result is certainly unusual. We then take a recording of my nephew and alter the size of his head along with the pitch of his voice. Since we had a very full house tonight, I next take the microphone around the first floor to let you hear a snapshot of the festive atmosphere. What do shoes and lonely beers have in common? The first Academy Awards were handed out today in 1929. Monty Python helps us mark the event. Hear a difficult-to-understand limeric. Learn more about the swivel chair I want to destroy. Finally, who, or what, is the love-matic grandpa? That wraps it up for this week. I'm headed north for a couple of weeks, so Blart Radio's schedule may be a bit lopsided while I'm away. Stay tuned to the TBRN website and our usual messengers to learn when we will next be on the air. See you next time. (Comment on this)
Saturday, May 9th, 2009
9:51 pm	Blart Radio for May 9, 2009 Click here to download. In this week's show: We start things off with a track that is slightly related to Mother's Day. Why is John so POed tonight? We heartily welcome some new listeners. In the process of talking with them, we explain why we refuse to run Skype. Find out what Crystal Beer is. Karen's grandmother moved today. We play a song dedicated to the move and the reason behind it. Ever wondered what the news would sound like if it were autotuned to a R&B track? Find out where Venison88 has gone. We're always looking for new broadcast tallent. Drop me a line if you're interested in joining the station. Hear what Karen's 14-year-old birthday hamster sounds like. We play an odd mashup between a well-known rap artist and a classic rock group. To commemorate the release of Star Trek XI, we play a strange parody john and I created back in 2000 with Microsoft Sound Recorder, a broken tape recorder, and some game sound effects. Do Eric Idle and Wesley Willis appreciate their mothers? We don't know about Mr. Idle, but Wesley definitely doesn't. Hear an autotuned rendition of President Obama and.... a cow? Some of our listeners don't like the emergency alert sequence. Even so, we have some fun with it. Despite our various visual impairments, we explain why we don't like to dwell on blindness-specific material. John, the world's biggest fan of twirling, has a new swivel chair waiting for him in Michigan. Our favorite brown dog had an interesting adventure yesterday. Finally, Venison88 and Clay write in with some delightfully inappropriate commentary before we sign off. That's it for this episode. Stay tuned for the next dose in just under seven days. (Comment on this)
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009
1:28 pm	Blart Radio for May 2, 2009 Click here to download. In this week's episode: A giant storm system came through our area 25 minutes before the show started, and we transmitted the hail as heard from inside our office. Because most of you likely missed it, this spontaneous recording begins the archive. The local Dallas Cowboys training area collapsed today. Tim Wilson sings to us a football-related ditty. Karen joins us from her laptop, and consequently, so does our favorite brown puggle. Among his tricks, he is able to sit and eat fortune cookies on command. Learn about the key signatures of our barking dogs. Another storm rolls through, and we attempt to record more hail. People who believe it's possible to cook popcorn with a cell phone are too gullible for their own good. Ed now has his very own techno remix. Find out why Tristan was racing a crowd of horses today on the world's smallest track. Hear about bugs that live inside beverages. Corona might get her very own monthly call-in show or documentary. Hear some audio I sent to Tank-FX.com. Essentially, you can hear your own recording played back through a concrete tank somewhere in Germany, complete with warehouse workers, environmental noises, etc. Babadu and the United States emergency alert sequence are among them. We then break out some old Seamus Kennedy classics, remakes, and hang on the box for a yellow banana. Hear what happens when a furby gets nuked in someone's microwave. Finally, Ed dances for us one more time. That does it for this week. We'll be back next Saturday; same time, same station. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
1:36 pm	Blart Radio for April 25, 2009 Click here to download. In this week's episode: We start things off with one of several records that Derek and I restored this week. Unlike your typically tame old music, these recordings are inappropriate at best. Brian, a regular listener to the network who disappeared a couple of months ago, calls in after some very serious surgery. Some of our listeners are on diets. One has lost 25 pounds, and another's already down by 40. Hear all about Beachy and why I consequently don't like Spring. Benny Bell then sings us a tune describing the various jobs he had and why he doesn't work anymore. Billy Murray later sings to us all the way from 1905 about the Damn family. What a colorful bunch of folks they are. Find out what she's still got and why I want it. It's not what you might be thinking, either. Find out why it's so great to take ships for yourself instead of other forms of transportation. Corona has a cold. We hope it's not indicative of the Mexican swine flu that's running rampant down south. We didn't reach our live listener amount for the week, so instead of "Beer on a String," we play two tracks about each item. Venison88 doesn't much care for Pirate Daycare. Venison also tells us about an incident from his childhood involving flash cards, boats, kindergarden, and suspension from school. Some listeners can't say "firetruck." Is the cat in the cradle or in the kettle? Karen and Chelsey then argue with us about what constitutes liking or loathing country music. That's it for this week. See you in another seven days. (Comment on this)
Sunday, April 19th, 2009
1:19 pm	Blart Radio for April 18, 2009 Click here to download. In this week's show: TBRN's owner, Andre Louis, got married earlier today. We wish him and his bride the best and start out the show with a halfway relevant Monty Python sketch. Even though it was several thousand miles away, yours truly listened live to the wedding in his bed clothes. Ice cream trucks that produce doppler effects should be permanently banned from the streets. A listener is being bombarded by relatives for her grandmother's 85th birthday. Find out what someone obsessed with six-foot tall coin sorters is called. Watch out for the gigantic sneeze. Corona isn't the only person who experimented with adult beverages as a toddler. We update you with the latest status report of the station's services. We hear an amusing, but all too true discourse about having southern relatives over for the holidays. San Francisco was leveled today in 1906. A Scottish comedian subsequently talks to us all about earthquakes. Why should you use shaving cream every day? My nephew's birthday party was held earlier this afternoon. We fill you in on some of the details and play a recording of several of us riding with him inside hollowed out barrels. We resume last week's contest to find a suitable name for Karen's new netbook. We narrow the results down to two suggestions and take votes for the winner. The result is announced at the end of the show. Version 0.8 of the Miranda instant messenger is now a release candidate. Users are highly recommended to upgrade. Due to the show's time slot, the majority of our listeners reside in North America. Even so, someone from Germany writes in to let us know we're being heard across the Atlantic. Travel back in time with us to the early 1900's for a request that demonstrates the era's popular music. We finish the show by playing a comedic track dedicated to Paul Revere's ride to Lexington and Concord today in 1775. (Comment on this)
1:16 pm	Blart Radio for April 11, 2009 Click here to download. Interesting topics for this week's edition include: We aren't terribly thrilled about the pirate situation. Thanks to Ray Stevens, we insult them quite nicely. After the singing and dancing, we detail the situation with the pirates. My microphone's shock mount is coming apart. Since no pictures are available, I describe the rediculous compensation I've made until I can replace the thing. I finally broke down and purchased a netbook. Since its primary purpose is to stream media of all sorts, including The Simpsons, into my bedroom, I've affectionately named it Nightbook. Karen also purchased one, and we hold a contest for the best name for it. The winner will be announced next week. Karen calls in from a hockey game to tell us that Ed's great great great grandson turned 55 today. Speaking of birthdays, my nephew turned two yesterday. Despite last week's navigational success on foot, hear why I don't ever want to stay in this city based on a frustrating experience I endured yesterday. Listeners also chime in about transit systems in their areas Charter Communications finally filed for Chapter 11. Perhaps their service will actually improve for a change. Find out why the Utah Jazz is Corona's favorite basketball team. I made an embarrassing Michiganian slip during the show. Can you catch it? We explain what's happening with the station regarding services, archives, and so on. Remember the garbage song from the last two shows? We play one final mix of last week's recording. A listener calls in to tell us about his friend who was so desperate for drug money that he tried to hold someone's pet for randsome. he failed to realize that said pet was equipped with a GPS tracking chip. We present a severe thunderstorm in glorious stereo as it blows through our city during the show. After we play a couple of songs related to the phone calls we received, Karen rings us and informs us that there were no fights at this week's hockey game. (Comment on this)
1:14 pm	Blart Radio for April 4, 2009 Click here to download. In this week's show: John isn't with us this week. Find out about the pedestrian adventures Karen and I engaged in during the week. We each use different GPS products and compare them. What happens when one of our listeners falls asleep on a voice conferencing system? We recount the "Cough, splat!" incident from November. By listener request, we introduce a fictional assistive tech company headed by no other than Rock D. Bort. Last week's garbage song was so popular that we recorded a version composed of two guitars and nine Coronas. Karen shares some disturbing adult-oriented stories involving chainsaws and vacuums. Another listener shares an even more disturbing story involving a woman who enjoyed flies a little too much. One more listener tells us another such story involving poisonous snakes. We play another recording we made today of last week's Roger Alan Wade ditty. Finally, a listener calls in about his day surrounded by lots of redneck children. (Comment on this)
Sunday, March 29th, 2009
1:53 pm	Blart Radio for March 28, 2009 Click here to download. This episode is probably the most definitive and entertaining show we've broadcast in the four years we've been on the air. Some of the more memorable moments include: Everyone is in the same studio this week. Corona starts off the show by pressing all sorts of pretty buttons. As usual, we catch you up with what we've been up to for the week. Today is not Pick on Rosey Day," even though Rosey might argue that point. In which direction will Corona age, and what other defining traits might change each year? Some of our listeners really love Crystal Light, and others don't much care for it. There's a difference between fun and fun. "Here, kitty kitty kitty." We devise a Spanish rap that we hope our more fluent listeners can help us solidify and create. We break out a never-before heard Guns And Roses parody called "Souvenir City." This song dates back to the Christmas holiday of 2001. With the musical backing of my new acoustic guitar, Corona sings a song all about taking out the garbage. We then take the same melody and add all kinds of interesting twists to it throughout the second hour. Get ready for Karen's hickups from Hell. Hear another sad, Celtic rendition of Corona's garbage song. John finally swears while we sing a three-part harmonized version of a Roger Alan Wade classic. Our audience is apparently filled with song writers. We sing along with a tornado siren and manage to freak out several of our listeners. Find out why talking scales are evil. An edited "The Dream" song plus the three of us makes for an interesting mix. That does it for this week. We sincerely appreciate everyone's participation and promotion during the live broadcast. Another show might be forthcoming while Karen is here, so keep an eye on the TBRN messengers. (Comment on this)
Friday, March 27th, 2009
9:52 pm	make way for the 3D CAPTCHA Just when you thought CAPTCHAs were annoying enough, someone has taken them to the next level. Like it or not, get ready to identify them in 3D. I wonder how this could possibly be made accessible to the sight impaired? (Comment on this)
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
7:20 pm	Rockbox 3.2 is Released The Rockbox folks have just released version 3.2 of their open-source firmware for portable music players. Click here to download the update through the Rockbox Utility or here to manually download the zip file for your specific target. The changelog is right here. Rock on. (Comment on this)
12:14 pm	Steve's Talking Clock 2.05 is Released This is just a quick note to let you all know that a new version of the talking clock has been posted. A couple of minor bugs were fixed, and two new number processing methods, including one for Danish support, have been added. This free update for existing Clock 2.0 users can be found here. (Comment on this)
Sunday, March 22nd, 2009
9:06 pm	Blart Radio for March 21, 2009 Click here to download On this week's blast of Blart: John's mic stand has suddenly developed the unfortunate habit of regularly falling over. Which is worse? One-day-old coffee or one-week-old Diet Coke My 23-month-old nephew makes an appearance to say "night night." While a listener is on the phone, I develop the brief talent of remixing a techno bed with a Homer head. It turns out that Chelsey, a listener who loathes coffee of all sorts, has re-evaluated her opinion. Meet the roaring Rosalie. Discover why BJ's Pizza is so special. What exactly is involved with making the oink oink? Based on the past few weeks' shows, we can clearly see an inverse relationship between the amount of raunchy discussions and how much matterial I've prepared beforehand. We revisit the Belching British Grandma and discover some disturbing websites. What are John's true motives for visiting Ihop? We play several songs to mark Astrology Day. We talk about the brief vacation we took to southern Louisiana. Finally, the last segment of the show is devoted to an interactive discussion, and subsequent Tim Wilson track, about American accents. That wraps it up for another week. Assuming everything goes according to schedule, all of us will be live from the same studio next week. See you then. (Comment on this)
9:05 pm	Blart Radio for March 14, 2009 Click here to download On this week's raunchy edition of the show: Today (3/14) is national Pi Day. Doesn't the U.S. Senate have anything better to do? I forget to unmute Karen's mic when she returns to the studio. Many raspberries and subsequent tracks are played. Randy calls in for the first time and tells us about his new band and musical gear. We briefly describe how the studio is configured. Rosey and Karen then take the above explanation and pervertedly corrupt it. We learn that Corona can count to twelve.</li> We hear about something that nearly happened to Patrick while he was visiting West Virginia last year. We and the listeners debate good and worthless adult beverages. Karen's happy cat makes a bassy appearance. We play some music dedicated to St. Patrick's Day. Finally, the Onion Radio News provides us with a few laughs. And there you have it. We'll be back next Saturday night. (Comment on this)
9:04 pm	Blart Radio for March 7, 2009 Click here to download In this week's episode: We hear from a lot of new listeners since new archives haven't been posted during TBRN's server migration. Patrick and I debate who has wasted more time creating rediculous audio compositions in even more meaningless locations. If you enjoy off-the-wall and slightly intillectual humor, check out The Snowman. We discuss why we were so reluctant to join Twitter. Some program on Facebook called Speed Date keeps trying to hook me up with random anonymous women. Derek calls in with a disturbing video on Youtube. Karen rings us during a hockey game that had the potential of hosting 75 clones of Brian Mr. Brown sends us a voicemail to tell us that he doesn't like being home while Karen's away. The telephone was patented today in 1876. In 1994, the Supreme Court ruled that it was legal to parodize published music without having to seek the original author's permission. John's apparently been talking to some of our female listeners at 2 in the morning. Wonder why that could be? Listen as I describe how I managed to rack up a $300 phone bill in just minutes at a friend's house when I was only a lad of seven. Another listener called "The Texas Hammer" and ended up with quite a hefty bill as well. Grass in the toaster? We show you examples of talking beer openers. John then enters and comes out of our very crowded closet in search of an old telephone. He brings us a filthy snorkle instead. Vennison88 rounds up the show by calling us and embarking on tales of yesteryear that involve his childhood chemical experiments. That does it for this week's incriminating episode. More greatness will return next week. See you then. (Comment on this)
9:03 pm	Blart Radio for February 28, 2009 Click here to download Highlights from this week's episode of Blart Radio include: The legendary Paul Harvey died just as the show began. Coincidence? You be the judge. I got to see the Dave Brubeck Quartet last night. The man still plays as good as ever despite his frailty. The concert sold out for both nights that the group was in town.</li> Corona gave up beer for Lent. Will she be able to survive until Easter? John and I upgraded our phone plans today. Somebody forgot to bring his current ID to the store which, at the very least, made the trip worth discussing. The Irish Republic was founded today. Tim Wilson helps us commemorate the beginning of the Davidian 51-day standoff in Waco, Texas in 1993. Reverend Bigdawg and the basketball team that kept falling down remind us that the first basketball game was televised today in 1940. Corona has a beer machine. One of our listeners really messed up her face. We wish her well and hope she recovers soon. Another listener spontaneously submits us an ID. The Shang-hi Communique was signed today in 1973. My sexy sexy voice apparently isn't so appealing to our listeners on the other side of the fence. Another listener calls in to tell us about his impending baby. Someone's mother snores so loudly that the entire house can hear it. Because we're so nice, we let you hear it, too. We next hear an odd loudspeaker trick when Karen returns to her mic while on the phone. Finally, take it to the limit with a circle of rakes. That does it for this week. See you all in another seven days. (Comment on this)
9:02 pm	Blart Radio for February 21, 2009 Click here to download In this week's edition of Blart Radio: This is the first show of the year with the entire BR crew. Since Kelsey Grammer turned 54 today, we created a few new sound effects for the show. Nascar was officially formed today. Ed makes his first appearance for 2009. Find out why Corona's been obsessively taking out the garbage. Hear a track or two from my cousin's former band, Tree Logic. We play a clip from the Valentine's Day show we put on last week.</li> Corona has a quarter, because she's just so smart. Several people, including Nicole, Meredith, Amy, Mr. Brown, and Brian are celebrating birthdays. Observe how one cuts off a clicky approximately 53 minutes into the show. We have some script updates for Window-Eyes users. Candycorn up John's nose, DVD Mountain, and unexpected trips to the ground sum up our personal incrimination for the week. The Communist manifesto was published today in 1848. Why is John speaking vocally? Karen managed to hit an amazingly low note earlier in the week. Hear all about it and the song that prompted it. We end the show with a track from Disciple's newest album. Thanks for listening, and see you next week. (Comment on this)
8:59 pm	TBRN Archives are Back As regular TBRN listeners will doubtless know, we've been moving and reorganizing the station's services and downloadable content. Blart Radio has continued for the past five weeks, but it hasn't been possible to upload the archives until now. Archives are once again available, so the next several entries will contain links and show notes to let you catch up if you missed the live broadcasts. (Comment on this)